Neurocognitive Urban Participation: From Internal Regulation to Collective Decision-Making

In the face of escalating urban complexity, the quality of decision-making has emerged as a subtle yet foundational axis of transformation. This project offers a novel framework for training urban actors-including city officials, engineers, and citizens-through applied cognitive neuroscience, environmental psychology, and ethical decision theory. At its core lies a commitment to cultivating neural coherence, cognitive alignment, and somatic resilience as the soft infrastructure of participatory urban governance. Grounded in the hypothesis that effective spatial decisions must first emerge from internally regulated and neuro-synchronized states, the program employs rhythmic breathwork, sensory alignment, and neurocognitive modulation to establish a baseline of collective awareness. This shared neurobiological rhythm becomes the precondition for inclusive negotiation, empathic listening, and ethically-attuned urban reasoning. The educational model is scalable across individual, community, and institutional layers-functioning as a cognitive bridge between the spatial materiality of the city and the invisible neurology of its decision-makers. It reframes the city not as a mere spatial product, but as a neurocultural system shaped by coherence, presence, and collective awareness. Such a city is not engineered from structure alone, but emerges from the deep architecture of internal attunement.

This project presents a neurocognitive training model for urban actors, integrating neuroscience, environmental psychology, and ethics. It emphasizes internal regulation, rhythmic breathwork, and sensory coherence to enhance participatory governance. The city is reframed as a neurocultural system, shaped by synchronized cognition, collective awareness, and embodied decision-making-emerging not only from physical design but from deeply attuned mental infrastructure.

Placemaking and Infrastructure for Inclusive Cities: 
Migration, Housing, and Urban Infrastructure in Canada

This interdisciplinary special session, structured as a roundtable, brings together researchers from Bridging Divides: The Migration Integration in the Mid-21st Century-a major interdisciplinary research program funded by the Government of Canada through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF). The program aims to develop a new understanding of migrant integration through comparative and globally engaged scholarship. One of its central research themes, Place and Infrastructure, explores how physical, social, and digital infrastructures shape the integration trajectories of migrants in Canadian cities. This session focuses on the pivotal role of housing, transit, and public spaces and services in shaping immigrant settlement, placemaking, and integration experiences across Canadian cities of various sizes. It highlights not only the role of migration policy in shaping migrants' multifaceted trajectories, but also migrants' agency in transforming cities through transnational connections, cultural practices, physical and digital placemaking, and everyday negotiations of space. We will examine physical, social, and digital infrastructures, exploring how they can both hinder and enable migrant well-being, integration, and belonging. We will also consider how community-centered, culturally responsive approaches might transform these systems to better support diverse urban populations. Special attention will be given to: Migrant-led place-making and cultural infrastructure (Dr. Melissa Kelly) Barriers to housing access and homeownership for international migrants (Dr. Amin Moghadam) Third places as social infrastructure-welcoming spaces that foster migrant integration, well-being, and belonging (Dr. Zhixi Cecilia Zhuang) Immigrant integration in small and rural communities (Dr. Sandeep Agrawal) The role of digital technologies in reshaping urban experiences, including a VR-based neighborhood preference study (Dr. Bilal Farooq).

This special session presents research from Bridging Divides, a major Canadian program on migrant integration. Focusing on housing, transit, public spaces, and digital tools, it explores how infrastructures shape immigrant settlement and placemaking in cities of all sizes. It highlights migrant agency, policy impacts, and community-based innovations fostering integration, belonging, and urban transformation in Canada and beyond.

Narrative Spaces: How Cultural Expression Shapes Architecture and Urban Design

Urban design often begins with a blueprint-but the soul of a place is written in its stories. This session explores the powerful intersection between literature, visual arts, and the built environment, asking: How can cultural narratives and artistic expression shape architecture and design that is more inclusive, identity-driven, and rooted in place? In a world of rapid urban change and globalized architectural practices, re-centering local cultural imagination is not just a matter of aesthetics or nostalgia, it's a strategy for belonging and shared meaning. When we inhabit a space, we don't just move through it physically- we dream in it, attach memories to its thresholds, and assign meaning to its smallest corners. Stories, both oral and written, can guide the design of such spaces by capturing the rhythms, metaphors, and atmospheres of everyday life. This session highlights how storytelling, poetry, painting, can inform architectural language, public space design, and regeneration. From poetic metaphors, to murals, to Bedouin oral traditions, this session brings together writers and designers in a cross-cutting dialogue about how cities can reflect lived experience. By treating literature and the arts not as supplementary to design but as its generative source, this session invites new pathways for architecture and planning-where homes, streets, and public spaces become spaces of imagination, memory, and culture. 

This session explores the powerful intersection between literature, visual arts, and the built environment, asking: How can cultural narratives and artistic expression shape architecture and design that is more inclusive, identity-driven, and rooted in place?

Planning and Plans: Reclaiming Purpose in a Time of Crisis and Opportunity

At this moment of dramatic change-marked by the climate crisis, demographic shifts, technological disruption, and widening inequality-we are being called to rethink how we touch the earth: the patterns of human settlement and resettlement, the infrastructure that connects us, and the very meaning of community, street, place, and home. In this context, planning is no longer optional. Planning must evolve beyond the regulation of land use, density, and building form. It must reclaim its public purpose: enabling communities to think, act, and shape their futures collectively. And it must do so with urgency, creativity, and care. A plan is not a prediction or projection-it is an invention of our own future. This transformation is nowhere more visible-or more critical-than at the local level. It is now widely recognized that the localization of global frameworks hinges on empowered, participatory, and strategic local planning. Cities-at the frontline of converging crises-are being asked not only to deliver services but to act as partners in development, incubators of solutions, and builders of resilience from the ground up. Around the world-and particularly in Saudi Arabia-planning systems are undergoing significant reform. New mandates, institutional restructuring, multi-level planning frameworks, and urban codes are being introduced. Yet even in this moment of opportunity, a deeper question persists: What does 'planning' actually mean in 2025? And by extension, what is the role and function of 'plans'? Are we truly shifting toward community-based, vision-driven, dynamic policy frameworks-capable of adapting to complexity and enabling systemic change? Or are we still reproducing the legacy of static, physical masterplans-updated in format, but unchanged in logic? In practice, both paradigms seem to coexist. Plans mean different things to different actors. Cities articulate bold visions, yet often lack mechanisms for sustained implementation. Participatory rhetoric increases, yet rigid blueprint-style plans continue to dominate official outputs. This session takes up that contradiction. It will interrogate the evolving role of plans as instruments of spatial transformation, governance, and collective imagination. It will ask whether the planning systems emerging today are genuinely breaking new ground-or merely modernizing an outdated model. And it will position community-based local planning as the crucible where global ambition must be translated into grounded, place-based action. 

This session explores the evolving role of planning in a rapidly changing world. As planning is being redefined globally: what should a "plan" do in 2025? Through dialogue and critical reflection, we reclaim planning's purpose as a tool for collective agency, spatial transformation, and locally grounded resilience.

Reading the City: AI-driven Sentiment Analysis for Urban Decision-making

Urban planners increasingly face a fundamental disconnect: while cities generate unprecedented volumes of spatial and socioeconomic data, understanding how residents perceive and experience urban environments remains methodologically challenging. This session examines how artificial intelligence can systematically analyse resident sentiment and correlate it with traditional planning indicators, offering new insights into the relationship between measured urban performance and lived experience - true human centricity. The session centres on a case study using GUS, an AI-powered platform that applies natural language processing, computer vision, and retrieval-augmented generation to analyse resident feedback from multiple sources like social media, surveys, and public commentary. This perception data is then spatially mapped and cross-referenced with established indicators including housing accessibility, employment density, transport coverage, and urban vitality indices. The methodology reveals patterns and disparities that conventional analysis often overlooks. The presentation follows a structured format. Beginning with an overview of AI applications in perception analysis for planning contexts, the session then moves to hands-on exploration of platform outputs including sentiment-satisfaction mapping, temporal topic clustering, and multi-factor correlation matrices. Participants will examine specific cases where perception data diverged significantly from quantitative indicators, for instance, employment-dense areas reporting low opportunity perception, or well-resourced neighbourhoods showing unexpected dissatisfaction patterns. A key component involves participant interaction with the data, allowing attendees to explore correlations, test assumptions, and critically evaluate the methodology. The session addresses both technical considerations 1) how AI processes and categorises qualitative data and 2) practical implications for planning practice. The discussion component examines broader questions about integrating AI-derived perception analysis into planning frameworks. What validation methods ensure reliability? How should planners weight sentiment data against established metrics? What ethical considerations arise when using AI to interpret community voice? This session contributes to ongoing discourse about evidence-based planning by presenting a reproducible methodology for incorporating resident perception at scale. The approach demonstrated offers one model for addressing the persistent challenge of connecting quantitative urban performance metrics with qualitative resident experience, particularly relevant for equity-focused planning initiatives. Intended for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers engaged with smart city initiatives, participatory planning methods, and the integration of emerging technologies in urban analysis.

This session explores how AI can analyse resident sentiment from social media, surveys, and public comments, then map these insights against urban indicators like housing and employment access. Using the GUS platform, participants will examine real cases where perception data contradicts conventional metrics, discovering new methods to understand the gap between measured urban performance and actual resident experience.

From Climate Stress to Housing Resilience: 
Adaptive Design and Planning Strategies for Dynamic and Vulnerable Areas

The accelerating impacts of climate change are reshaping the challenges of cities and regions face worldwide, particularly in vulnerable, low-lying, and water-sensitive zones. As extreme weather events such as floods, storms, and heatwaves become more frequent and intense, the imperative to rethink urban housing and spatial planning grows stronger. Housing systems, often taken for granted as stable, are increasingly exposed to environmental risks while also grappling with socio-economic pressures like affordability, equity, and social cohesion. This special session focuses on the intersection of climate adaptation, housing resilience, and inclusive urban transformation, an urgent agenda for cities across the globe, from coastal European deltas to arid urban centers like Riyadh. Participants will explore how spatial planning, innovative design, and community engagement can be combined to create adaptive housing solutions that respond to local climate threats while addressing social and financial challenges. Drawing on research and case studies from the Baltic Sea region, this session highlights Gdańsk, Poland, a delta city situated in the Vistula River basin, as an instructive example. Gdańsk confronts multifaceted climate challenges, including flooding risks exacerbated by its polder-based land system and variable terrain elevation, alongside rising housing demand constrained by limited financial accessibility. Despite the housing stock quantity remaining stable over the past decade, the real need lies in upgrading building quality and climate-resilient design to secure long-term sustainability. Our research involved a qualitative assessment of adaptive housing projects within the Baltic Sea region. Key successful strategies include: Community engagement that empowers residents to participate in shaping their environments, Flexible spatial design enabling housing to adapt to evolving climate and social needs, Integrated environmental management combining green infrastructure with urban form to reduce risk and enhance liveability. These lessons provide a foundation for evidence-based guidelines and policies that can be adapted by other cities facing climate vulnerability. Why This Matters for Riyadh and Similar Contexts While Gdańsk is a coastal delta city with water-related risks, Riyadh faces a different but no less critical climate challenge: extreme heat, water scarcity, and urban sprawl under a hot desert climate. The principles of adaptive housing and integrated spatial planning are highly transferable. For example: Flexible spatial layouts can support passive cooling and shading strategies tailored to hot climates, Community-driven planning ensures solutions reflect local cultural and social priorities, Nature-based solutions such as urban greening and water-sensitive design can be tailored for arid environments to enhance resilience. This session will help participants understand how to contextualize and adapt these approaches to their own cities whether coastal, arid, or otherwise climate-sensitive, by combining local knowledge with proven international practices. 

This session explores how cities facing climate stress like Gdańsk and Riyadh can implement adaptive housing and planning strategies. Through global case studies and interactive discussion, participants will learn practical, flexible, and community-driven solutions to address climate risks, enhance resilience, and ensure housing affordability in vulnerable urban areas. The session links design innovation with social and environmental responsibility.

Launch Event: Cities and Health Special Issues – One Health for All:
Exploring Regenerative Practices for Coexistence and Well-being

Since 1965, our Society of City and Regional Planners has brought together individual and institutional members from over 90 countries, with the vision of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable through integrative, participatory urban and territorial planning. Our mission is to mobilise professional urban and regional planners to co-implement the vision enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda through a range of collaborative activities such as creating a global network of practitioners, knowledge exchange, promotion of excellence, nurturing altruistic relationships between members, enhancing awareness and understanding of planning challenges globally as well as supporting and protecting the interest of planners. A compelling testimony is our Community of Practice in Urban Health, which collaborates with Cities & Health since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and has since developed a series of special issues. This partnership functions as a reminder that good planning is one of the most effective public health measures to ensure the health and well-being of all (human and non-human). During the congress we seek to celebrate the milestone of completing a special issue that focuses on "One Health for all: exploring regenerative practices for coexistence and well-being." The editorial team will present a short synopsis of the papers and invite all interested members to become part of the Community of Practice Urban Health and shape the discourse together for a brighter urban future.

This is a special session in which the Community of Practice Urban Health invites all members to the launch of the latest Special Issue journal with Cities and Health. Under the title "One Health for all: exploring regenerative practices for coexistence and well-being" the editors provide an overview of the contributions and seek to co-design the next theme.

Participation and Co-creation in the Process of Shaping the Inclusive 15-Minute City

The concept of a 15-minute city is associated not only with a specific urban form or functional composition, but also with social inclusiveness. This results in conclusion that shaping these structures requires participatory approaches as well as employment of innovative planning and implementation instruments, including ones that are not yet embedded in the planning legislation or established planning practice. At the same time shaping the inclusive and embedded in local identity spaces requires going beyond traditional planning workshop – we have to deal not only with urban design regulations but also with specifics of local public spaces, their cultural character and type of urban program that is associated with these. Such an approach is currently tried-and-tested within the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) ENACT 15m City project (Envisioning Neighbourhoods and Co-Creating Thriving Communities in the 15-Minute City), which is currently developed by the consortium including universities from Norawy (Trondheim), Poland (Gdańsk), United Kingdom (Oxford) and Spain (Valencia). During the proposed roundtable it is intended to discuss preliminary conclusions coming out of the project work, conducted within 4 Urban Living Labs developed simulatneously at each partner city, with a special focus on the scope of public participation and co-creation processes as well as usage of the innovative planning instruments. At the same time it will include discussion on the usage of the new technologies allowing better understanding of the planning concepts (including Augmented REality and Virtual Reality), physical and virtual models and tools like mapping and projections allowing mixing traditional and new approaches. This special session shall include a set of presentations dealing with all above-mentioned issues, allowing the audience better understanding the complexity and specifics of shaping the structures of the 15-minute city.

The concept of a 15-minute city requires dealing both with a specific urban form, functional composition and social inclusiveness. During the proposed session it is intended to discuss the scope of public participation and co-creation processes as well as usage of the innovative planning instruments and technologies.

Going Deeper: Underground Space as a Strategic Pathway to Urban Climate Resilience

As the climate crisis accelerates, cities are grappling with the urgent need to adapt. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and mounting pressure on surface infrastructure demand bold, innovative solutions-solutions that are spatially efficient, climate-resilient, and future-focused. Yet, a critical asset remains underutilized in most urban resilience strategies: underground space. This session, led by ITACUS (ITA-AITES Committee on Underground Space), repositions the underground not as an afterthought in urban design, but as a strategic lever for climate action and improved quality of life. Grounded in our global work and engagement with planners, policymakers, and engineers across continents, we argue that underground space holds transformative potential for shaping resilient, livable cities. Whether through integrated underground master planning, dual-use infrastructure, or multi-functional spaces that offer thermal comfort, stormwater buffering, and transit connectivity, going underground presents immense opportunities. But harnessing these opportunities requires a shift in mindset-from reactive excavation to proactive policy. Our presentation will outline a vision and policy roadmap for embedding underground space into urban climate strategies. It will highlight best practices and early adopters from different geographies, showcasing how underground solutions are being used to: Mitigate urban heat through thermally regulated underground public spaces. Reduce flood risk via underground stormwater detention and storage systems. Enhance mobility through interconnected subterranean transit networks. Reclaim surface land for green space, increasing urban biodiversity and wellbeing. We will also explore how underground strategies intersect with equity, affordability, and social inclusion-ensuring underground development does not deepen existing divides but serves as a tool for shared urban futures. Importantly, we will reflect on the policy vacuum that often surrounds underground development and propose actionable strategies that national and local governments can adopt. This includes frameworks for underground spatial planning, community engagement models, and institutional collaboration mechanisms that place underground space on equal footing with surface and aerial planning. With Riyadh itself exploring subterranean developments and sustainability goals, this session is timely. We invite city leaders, planners, and policy influencers to join us in a forward-looking dialogue that challenges conventional notions of "urban space" and expands the vocabulary of resilience planning. Our goal is not just to go deeper-but to go smarter, more sustainably, and more inclusively, beneath the surface of today's cities.

This session explores underground space as a visionary, policy-driven pathway to urban climate resilience. It presents a strategic roadmap for integrating subterranean solutions into urban planning and climate action-unlocking benefits for mobility, flood control, thermal comfort, and surface greening while promoting inclusive and sustainable development.

Bridging Climate Action Plans, Spatial Planning, and Sustainability Frameworks in Urban Systems

Cities are in full activity to take responsibility to both the climate crisis and its solutions. Even with stretched budgets, city leaders know they are at the forefront of responding to extreme climate events and erratic weather patterns, affecting urban services and the life of city dwellers. Urban systems account for over 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, host the majority of the world's population, and generate the bulk of national GDPs. As climate impacts intensify, it is increasingly urgent that urban climate action plans are integrated with spatial planning policies to create coherent, place-based strategies that advance both mitigation and adaptation goals. Currently, many urban climate action plans focus on sectoral emissions without adequate spatial grounding, while spatial planning often overlooks dynamic climate risks and decarbonisation pathways. This disconnect undermines the effectiveness of sustainability assessments, adaptation plans, and the formulation of cities' contributions to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). There is a critical need for planning systems and climate governance to converge-ensuring that land use, infrastructure development, and socio-economic priorities are aligned with carbon budgets and resilience targets. The upcoming IPCC Special Report on Cities-whose first draft is due to be released for comments ahead of this congress-will potentially highlight priorities for action and ways to achieve measurable impacts, currently lacking in both climate plans and planning policy. ISOCARP's Initiative for Climate Resilience Planning Group proposes a lively debate with 4 different speakers from different backgrounds to explore how to move towards a systemic approach where urban spatial and climate plans are developed jointly, leveraging data integration, scenario modelling, and co-benefits analysis. Doing so enables local governments to set science-based targets and deliver transformative change on the ground, while also strengthening the credibility of national commitments under the Paris Agreement. The debate will consider internal barriers within local government, the need for multi-level cooperation to feed spatial and urban processes into national commitments, inclusive planning processes, and investment in spatially explicit strategies to reduce emissions and enhance resilience. The panel will include: an overview of the IPCC report on Cities draft by representative of the ISOCARP expert group who will have been involved in the review and formal feedback, and a discussion between promoters of climate aware policies from the Arab world (for example from the Arab Urban Development Institute), academics, and practitioners from different regions. Integrating spatial planning with climate action is not just a technical necessity-it is a political and economic imperative. This session will explore practical pathways, institutional innovations, and policy frameworks that can support cities in becoming engines of climate-resilient and low-carbon development.

Urban systems drive over 70% of GHG emissions and face escalating climate risks. This session explores how integrating spatial planning with climate action can unlock transformative, place-based solutions. With insights from the IPCC Cities Report and global experts, the panel will debate governance, planning barriers, and tools to align urban policy with national commitments and climate resilience goals.

Planning Reform in Action: Global Expertise, National Transformation

Planning Reform in Action: Global Expertise, National Transformation Unlocking the Future of Cities through Ambitious Partnerships and Bold Planning Innovation Planning reform is emerging as one of the most powerful tools for shaping sustainable, inclusive, and future-ready cities. In Saudi Arabia, this transformation is being driven by a bold national effort to modernize planning systems-supported through a strategic partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing (MoMaH). This Special Session will explore how global expertise, when aligned with national ambition, can catalyze systemic reform in urban planning. It will highlight how Saudi Arabia is reimagining its planning institutions and practices to meet the demands of rapid urbanization, climate resilience, and quality of life-while offering a replicable model for other countries navigating similar transitions. The session will showcase how this partnership is advancing a new generation of planning tools and institutions: from the development of a national urban framework to the reconfiguration of municipal boundaries, the design of modern operating models for local planning departments, and the creation of an innovation hub to test and scale new approaches. These efforts are not only transforming how cities are planned and managed in Saudi Arabia-they are also demonstrating how planning reform can bridge the gap between vision and implementation. By focusing on institutional innovation, stakeholder engagement, and data-driven decision-making, this session will offer insights into how planning reform can unlock long-term, systemic change-and how international cooperation can help shape the cities of tomorrow. The session will begin with a panel discussion featuring representatives from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing (MoMaH). This opening segment will provide an overview of the ongoing collaboration to strengthen Saudi Arabia's national planning systems through innovation, institutional reform, and capacity building. Following the panel, the session will transition into an interactive segment where participants will be invited to engage directly with case studies emerging from this partnership. These include: The integration of a national urban framework to guide sustainable urban development; The redefinition and classification of municipal systems to improve governance and service delivery; The embedding of innovation and digital tools into the Target Operating Model and regional planning processes; And the development of an Urban Lab as a platform for testing and scaling new planning approaches. This format is designed to foster dialogue, share lessons learned, and co-create insights on how global expertise can support national transformation in urban planning.

How can planning reform drive national transformation? This session spotlights Saudi Arabia's ambitious effort to modernize urban planning-supported by UNDP and UN-Habitat. Learn how new tools, institutional innovation, and data-driven approaches are shaping inclusive, resilient cities-offering a model for countries facing rapid urbanization, climate challenges, and planning system reform.

AI Driven Urban Transformation in the Digital Age

AI Driven Urban Transformation in the Digital Age Organized by atomcamp Arabia. As cities evolve into dynamic, 24 hour ecosystems, urbanists, planners, architects and designers must harness data and emerging AI tools to plan for more livable, walkable and responsive neighborhoods. For this transformation, local data becomes a powerful resource to understand how people move, interact, and access services. This hands on workshop will focus on how data collected at the city level can help us understand and improve neighborhood health and livability. This workshop is designed for students, early career professionals and planners who are curious about how AI and digital tools can support evidence based urban strategies. In this 3 hour workshop, participants will learn how to measure neighborhood walkability using publicly available data. We will explore indicators like pedestrian infrastructure, access to public transport, safety and comfort for pedestrians, and the presence of parks and public spaces. Participants will work on collecting this data, scoring neighborhoods, and presenting their findings in an engaging way. The session aims to teach participants a clear and practical method to collect, process, and visualize urban data. Participants will explore how to use no code AI tools to auto generate insights from uploaded datasets. They will also learn to create maps and visualizations with PowerBI and Mapbox Studio with built in AI features. The workshop will be an interactive session featuring discussions and activities, offering participants a taste of practical research and demonstrating the power of data to improve neighborhoods. 

This workshop offers an introduction to AI led urban planning. Participants will learn how to use public data and no code AI tools to design human centered, walkable cities. It builds practical skills in data analysis, mapping and visualization. Led by globally trained urban experts, the session will spark dialogue on livability and equip participants with tools to lead.

Organised by: Atomcamparabi

This special session has limited capacity, registration will be required.

NGOs and Foundations in Saudi Urban Planning
A discussion about their role and successes

Saudi Vision 2030 is the overarching strategy that is leading to fast diversification of the economy, a dynamic and responsible administration and the empowerment of citizens. Planning is at the crossroads of multiple pillars of the Vision and is central to the initiatives aimed at putting people at the center of urban futures and urban development. NGOs and Foundations have therefore a fundamental role to play in establishing the links between city authorities, planning authorities and residents and business communities.

This session, with short presentations and discussions from multiple speakers, showcases NGOs engagement in urban planning projects. NGOs, community engagement and voluntary efforts are increasingly significant in local planning focusing on people centered approaches to city planning. 

The session is a great opportunity for a global audience to understand changes in the planning environment in Saudi Arabia and the new roles that NGOs are playing. It is also an occasion for important NGOs active in Riyadh to exchange experiences and compare aspirations.

Saudi transformation through National, Regional and Local Planning
Exploring the emerging new planning system and its aspirations

Saudi Arabia has embraced a new vast program of spatial planning reforms, led by the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing, aiming to promote nationally coordinated but regionally centered balanced and ambitious development that aligns with Vision 2030 and promotes sustainable, inclusive growth following the principles of the SDGs. 

A complementary session led my MOMAH and UN team will take place on another day

This session will showcases how Saudi Arabia is progressing in integrating National Spatial Policies through the preparation of a new program of regional and local plans developed locally under the leadership of newly formed development authorities and through the coordination of DASC (Development Authorities Support Center). The speakers will highlight the challenges of a fast-paced program and the steep learning curve but also how the planning process is putting the spotlight on integrated spatial development, sustainability, environmental responsibility and more.

Rediscovering Saudi Urban and Architectural Identities
Urban codes and better sense of place

Rapid growth, increased living standard expectations and influx of international construction materials over the past 60 years or so has resulted in extensive commonplace development. This has eroded the sense of place of once very distinct regions and traditions across the whole Arab Peninsula, and not only in Saudi Arabia. 

As part of broad efforts in rediscovering the uniqueness of the country and its local culture, the Saudi government has launched studies of regional development patterns, materials and functionality and translated them into guidelines which play a vital role in shaping the built environment by balancing tradition with innovation, ensuring that new developments respect cultural heritage while meeting modern standards of sustainability and functionality.

This session will showcase and discuss the methods and tools used for transforming Saudi cities to achieve global status while preserving traditional culture and urban fabric and reinforcing local identity. 

Saudi architectural guidelines are aiming to have the same influence as Design Codes in some European and American settings. For example, they encourage the use of local materials in residential projects to reflect regional identity, while also considering energy-efficient design choices. These guidelines help defining local distinctiveness and local identity while promoting environmental resilience, and support the goals of Vision 2030 by fostering livable, culturally rich communities. The session will show examples of implementation of local identities in urban planning and discuss the potential to include Passive House design.

The importance of international exchanges through Cities Diplomacy
The rise of city-to-city cooperation and exchanges for thought leadership and influence

In an era of increasingly complex international diplomacy and multilayered global agreements, city-to-city collaboration offers an essential and agile route for sharing knowledge and collaborating on shared challenges. Unlike national governments, cities can focus on specific themes, challenges and opportunities and engage directly on issues like climate resilience, digital innovation, and inclusive urban development. Initiatives such as the Arab European Cities Dialogue, convened in its inaugural edition in Riyadh in May 2025 demonstrate how urban centers can collectively promote collaboration, advance sustainability goals, exchange best practices, and amplify local voices on the global stage. These partnerships foster mutual learning, build trust across borders, and empower cities to act as influential players in shaping international norms from the ground up.

Capitalizing on the recent Arab European Cities Dialogue (AECD) in Riyadh of May 2025 and the even more recent UN Forum of Mayors in Geneva in October 2025, the panel will explore the rising importance of cities leadership and international partnerships at local level alongside the leadership initiatives of Riyadh and the rationales behind city to city alliances. 

Riyadh is considering joining several international organisations and form alliances with a variety of cities with the objective of maximising knowledge transfer and exchange, reinforcing its position as a regional and global leader in urban transformations. 

Infrastructure delivery to secure Riyadh's inclusive and sustainable growth
An exploration of initiatives and innovation

Cities worldwide are undergoing rapid transformation, with pressures from population growth, climate change, and the demand for resilient, sustainable infrastructure. Riyadh, as one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas, represents a testbed for innovative governance models, sustainability frameworks, and integrated planning approaches. Under Saudi Vision 2030, The Riyadh Amanah and the Riyadh Infrastructure Projects Center (RIPC) have pioneered several initiatives aimed at supporting growth, enhancing quality of life, while minimizing environmental impacts, enhancing service delivery, and strengthening public trust through transparent, scalable governance.

As populations concentrate in large cities, the demand for infrastructure intensifies-covering energy, transport, water, telecommunication, and waste systems. To secure viable and inclusive growth over the long term, the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure systems must enhance resilience, efficiency, and social well-being.   

This special session will present Riyadh's evolving model for sustainable infrastructure governance, focusing on how the city is institutionalizing integrated planning, cross-sector coordination, and early alignment of infrastructure needs. The session will highlight the unified institutional and regulatory frameworks that guide infrastructure and mega project development, ensuring collaboration among all stakeholders to enhance citywide efficiency, resilience, and cross-sector synergy.

Through expert presentations and interactive panel discussions, the session will explore how cross-sector collaboration, innovative technologies, and regulatory reforms can drive resilient urban growth. Participants will engage in dialogue around lessons learned, best practices, and opportunities for global scalability.

Riyadh 15 minutes city? From concept to reality
Principles, methods and tools

How can the city of Riyadh modernize while strengthening cultural identity, enhancing livability, and ensuring resilience in the face of climate and mobility pressures? Riyadh has developed using car-centric American models of development with large 2km x 2km urban and residential blocks with services and commercial activities at the edges. This model has been progressively reviewed and reconsidered to make municipal services locally accessible and strengthen neighborhood identity, but also address walkability, climate adaptation, and cultural continuity within this established structure. Riyadh Municipality is now leveraging innovative planning, geospatial intelligence, and human-centered design to embed inclusivity, governance, and sustainability within the city's existing and evolving fabric.

This session will explore Riyadh's pioneering approaches to integrating governance, sustainability, and cultural identity into urban transformation of existing neighbourhoods. Drawing on applied case studies-including My City Center, street humanization pilots, and Riyadh's data-driven 15-Minute Index-the panel will highlight how municipal projects can serve as scalable models of climate adaptation, inclusivity, and identity preservation. Through expert presentations and dialogue, the session will interrogate how cultural heritage and modern planning models can be reconciled, offering valuable lessons for other cities navigating rapid growth and globalized urban paradigms. The discussion will emphasize practical, evidence-based planning tools that align with the principles of resilience and improved quality of life.